Alan Igglesden

Alan was born in the village of Farnborough in 1964. His love of cricket started at school where as a teenager he played for his home town, Westerham Cricket Club in Kent. His pacey seam bowling shone at the age of 19 being  instrumental in the club retaining its North Kent League title in 1983 and caught the eye of the county. Alan went on to join Sevenoaks based Holmesdale CC and made his first-class Kent County cricket debut July 1986 against Somerset at Mote Park in Maidstone.

There he played until August 1998 making 283 appearances, taking 592 first-class and List A wickets, he took 50 first-class wickets in a season four times and recorded 19 five wicket hauls and two ten wicket matches.

In 1989 he took 90 wickets in 42 matches and was awarded his county cap and England came calling. Alan made his international debut in the final Test of the 1989 Ashes series taking 3 wickets in that game. He was then selected for the England A tour to Zimbabwe in the winter of 1989/90 where he was the leading wicket taker including 5 for 33 in the final unofficial test Match of the tour.

England would not come knocking again until the summer of 1993 when Alan was picked for the first Test, again against Australia. It appeared he may have had a few games to prove his worth but  injury  scuppered the comeback. Once fully recovered, Alan was picked to tour the West Indies, playing in two Test Matches and four One Day Internationals. This was to be his final foray onto the international scene.

Whilst playing for Kent Alan often “wintered” in South Africa playing first class cricket for Western Province and Boland and later at Avendale. 

Alan’s first class career ended in retirement from Kent in 1994 after taking 592 wickets for the county. This was not, however, the end and Alan was signed by Berkshire to play in the Minor Counties, also affording him the time to become a sports teacher at Sutton Valence School in Maidstone, Kent, where he met Liz whom he later went on to marry and have a daughter, Beth. It was whilst Alan was playing in a game for Berkshire in 1999 that he suffered a seizure and, after a routine MRI scan, doctors discovered a non-malignant but inoperable brain tumour. The radiotherapy treatment followed by numerous courses of drugs, reduced the tumour significantly.

Although you would never have known it, Alan’s tumour began to grow again in 2009 leading to two major debilitating strokes in 2018. On 1st November 2021 heart break struck and Alan eventually lost his long fought battle against the dreadful disease. During his life he made so many friends and touched so many hearts that Iggy's Fund was born to ensure his memory never fades and his friendly approach to sport continues to live on in the work of the charity.

During his illness Alan was an ambassador of The Brain Tumour Charity, and with the help of brother Kevin, family and friends raised over £300,000.